Barrington tax rate increases this year

BARRINGTON — The tax rate in Barrington has increased by 3.27 percent.

The new tax rate, established by the Department of Revenue Administration, is $21.46 per $1,000 assessed property value, compared with last year’s rate of $20.78.

The town’s portion of the tax rate is $4.41 per $1,000 assessed valuation, which is an increase of 28 cents.

According to Town Administrator John Scruton, the increase in the town portion of the tax rate is due to the Selectmen choosing to not no use the town’s fund balance — funds not spent during the last fiscal year — to offset the tax rate.

He said the Selectmen’s decision was made in anticipation of the DRA setting communities’ tax rates later than usual, due to staff cutbacks.

The tax bills due by Dec. 13 this year, when they are usually due by around Dec. 1.

The town, said Scruton, has to pay about $2 million to the county by mid-December, and having the fund balance money to make the payment would mean the town would not have to borrow money to pay the county taxes.

“We had looked at what would happen if there was a one-month delay in the collection of revenue and we wanted to avoid the situation where we had to borrow money,” said Scruton.

The local school portion of the tax rate is $12.33 per $1,000 assessed valuation, which is a 40-cent increase over last year’s rate of $11.93.

Superintendent Gail Kushner said information about what contributed the rate increase on the school district’s side will be available next week.

The state education tax dropped by 7 cents — the new rate is $2.21 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

The county tax went up by 7 cents — the new rate is $2.51 per $1,000 assessed valuation.